Darry watches a play
by Valentine Thornton
Summary: Ponyboy is grounded for causing the events in "Quarentine".- Darry goes to see a play, when some strange things happen that cause him to rethink everything he thinks he knows about his youngest brother.- will Darry survive after the balcony falls on him?
1. Worst play ever!

**My sister has been bugging me to write more stories with Darry in them. Soda got his, so now here's Darry's.**

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><p>I didn't regret grounding Ponyboy until I promised him I would go see this stupid play for him.<p>

I would have preferred to just stay home and watch TV, but then I found out that he had spent a whole dollar on the ticket. I was going to just return the thing, but of course when I got to the place and told the guy my problem he said there were no refunds.

I should have noticed that there was something odd about _"The Sunset Children's theater", like_ how familiar the ticket taker in the lobby was. He was an old guy in his late forties, with greying ginger colored hair and dull green- grey eyes. The way he had his hair combed back was what spooked me. He did it just like someone I knew, but I couldn't think of whom. His name was almost on the tip of my tongue.

"_What's it about?" I asked Ponyboy, putting on my jacket. _

"_I don't know… it doesn't say. You'll find out when you get there," _

_Ponyboy stood up from his place on the couch, pouted his lip, and when I didn't change my mind about the punishment he stomped out of the living room like an elephant. He paused next to the staircase and gave me a weird look. _

"_I'm sure it'll be awesome," he said, in an odd tone of voice I'd never heard anyone use, and stomped up the stairs. Then I heard his bedroom door slam._

_Hey, I wouldn't have to ground him if he didn't pull that "Quarantine" stunt. Went all out of his way to pretend he was sick, had the government spending a quarter of a million bucks trying to find a cure for a disease that he and Dallas made up. In the end they found a clever way to get out of it, but now I know that the Social workers were hiding weird little spy contraptions all over the house to keep an eye on us! I put a stop to that, yes I did; I got the government off my back, for good. Then I grounded Ponyboy for… well as long as it takes… till he learns his lesson._

I shook the memory from this morning out of my head and walked through the lobby, looking around and noticing more odd things about the place. No posters, no signs, no popcorn, no nothin'. Weird…

I entered the theater and walked down the long aisle, past a bunch of people till I got to the front row. I sat down in the comfy seat, then that familiar lookin' old guy from the lobby walks out on the stage.

"Welcome," he said. "It is a pleasure to introduce our final production of the season. So sit back, relax and enjoy yourselves while the Sunset Children's Theater proudly presents the world premiere of _Darry Watches a Play._"

HUH? Wait… did he just say what I think he did? WHAT?

The curtain opened up and there were two little kids. One was putting on a jacket like he was about to head out. The other one was sitting on a wooden chair with his arms crossed.

"What's it about?"

The other boy said that he didn't know then stomped off the stage. In the midst of all this I didn't even think to compare the scene to my morning.

The kid that had said the first line exits stage left. The curtain closed. What in the world?

The curtain opens and there is a row of theatre seats facing away from the audience. In front of the theater seats was another stage. A boy walks in and sits in one of the seats.

A man walked out in front of the curtains on the new stage.

"Welcome, it is a pleasure to introduce our final production of the season. So sit back, relax and enjoy yourselves while the Sunset Children's Theater proudly presents the world premiere of _Darry Watches a Play_." The man finished introducing the play and the curtain behind him opened up.

I watched as the boy on stage watched as two other boys talked. One was putting on a jacket and another was sitting in a chair with his arms crossed… like he was pouting.

My mind flashed back to the weird old ticket taker in the lobby for no reason at all. Then I thought of Ponyboy's bright green-grey eyes. I shook my head and went back to watching the kid on stage watch another kid on stage sit down to watch a play. How much you wanna bet this kid's name is gonna be named Darry and the play is gonna start off with someone tromping off stage like an elephant?

By then I had the play figured out and I was starting to get bored. But I wasn't bored for long. That was the moment that I noticed how big the room suddenly seemed. The theater seemed endlessly deeper as each new version started.

I had seen paintings in museums that looked kinda like this. The artist draws a design and then draws the same design inside of that design. If the artist did it correctly then it should create the illusion that the thing goes on forever.

Whenever I stare at these kinds of things I get the weird idea that the artist was trying to hypnotize someone. The idea of being controlled by someone who might be up to no-good freaks me out. I thought about getting up and leaving to avoid such a thing as being hypnotized, but I was curious to know how long the play could keep going.

After a while the actors were so far away that I could barely make them out. I had to strain to hear what they were saying. Then far off I heard an actor scream "Oh no! THE BALCONY'S FALLING!"

There was a crash and another voice cried out, "The poor boy, he's been crushed."

I sat there in shock as the furthest curtain closed.

Then once again I heard: "Oh no! THE BALCONY'S FALLING!" followed by another slightly louder -crash.

Theater by theater, the crash came closer. Pretty soon it was on the stage right in front of me.

Then a man on the stage shouted, "Oh no! THE BALCONY'S FALLING!"

The kid on stage named Darry shot up from his seat and turned around. But instead of running, he froze.

I automatically wanted to run up there and smack that kid. What kind of idiot would see that he's about to get squashed by a bunch of rubble and just stand there. Is he suicidal or something?

"Stupid kid," I muttered. This is just too unrealistic.

"Run, you idiot!" I shouted. I watched as the balcony fell right on top of the actor that was playing Darry. It seemed to move in slow motion, the balcony did, - groaning and creaking for a while and then finally toppling.

As the curtain closed, I looked up. The theater's balcony was right above my head. A strange groan came from above.

A man at the end of the aisle shouted, "Oh no! THE BALCONY'S FALLING!"

I knew I had plenty of time to reach the exit before the balcony fell. I shot up out of my seat, planning to make a dash for it. But then I froze, stunned by what lay in front of me.

I looked down at the seat that I had just been sitting in; I looked at my entire row of seats. I then realized that I was on a stage.

Feeling shocked and confused, I looked out into the audience- which I could barely see because the lights were shining right into my eyes- and was shocked when I saw a little kid sitting in the front row. The kid was wearing a t-shirt and blue jeans, just like me. The kid is sitting on the edge of his seat looking right at me. He yells, "Run, you idiot!" and I was about to take his advice, but when I tried to move my feet, I discovered that they were stuck to the wood of the stage.

The groaning sound from the balcony became a loud, terrifying cry, and I felt my heart pounding- like it was trying to escape, like the brain had said, "EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!" and my heart was beating on the walls of my chest, desperately trying it's hardest to break free of the confines of my ribcage and run away to start a new life. I think my brain couldn't handle all that blood pumping because, next thing I know, I'm praying that my heart will get lose and run home to tell Ponyboy and Sodapop that I love them.

They say, when you're about to die your life flashes before your eyes and that you relive everything, both the good and the bad.

Well if this is true, then how come all I saw was the ticket taker standing there, cackling evilly, his eyes glowing bright green as the balcony came down on me?

How come as I was laying there in the rubble, slowly fading away, I saw the ticket taker's entire appearance age in reverse?

Why did his eye's turn bright and all the grey in his hair disappear?

Why is he standing over me, laughing as I bled to death?

And more importantly,

How could Ponyboy do this to me?

"The poor boy, he's been crushed…"

And that was the last thing I ever heard…

**review**

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	2. Zim is so short

"Golly, Darry! Look at that. It's really coming down out there, isn't it?"

Darry puts down his newspaper, turns and looks out the kitchen window. He notices the grey sky and the heavy rain. He nods and goes back to reading the paper.

Sodapop had come home about an hour ago, so he had basically beaten the rain. Steve on the other hand wasn't gonna be as fortunate. He had to do some overtime.

It was Darry's day off and he had nothing better to do so, he decided to read the funny papers. He sat there laughing at _The Family Circus_, completely unaware of the travesty that had just befallen him. That's right, a travesty. You see, our pal, Darry doesn't realize it yet, but there is a supernatural being toying with him, all of the while, living in that very house. Now, this being isn't necessarily evil. No. Not at all evil. He's just kinda… selfish, stupid… and possibly a little twisted. He never really intended to, you now, harm anyone-He has a heart- He just wanted to get even. Earlier that day, Darry had grounded him for doing something really stupid. Although, what Darry didn't realize was that it wasn't his little brother he was grounding. It was Zim!

-Zim is an alien.

Where he came from shall remain a secret, but I will tell you one thing about him. He has a plan. A big plan. An enormous plan. The plan is definately bigger than him!

He plans to take over the earth, to annihilate the human race and take all of the earth for himself. Well, not specifically for himself- One thing you need to know about Zim, he's kind of a soldier. He doesn't get the whole earth to himself. His species gets it. Zim doesn't really get anything for conquering earth. No gratitude, no fame, nothing. Taking over the earth is all that he lives for; he received the assignment at birth and its pretty much all that he knows. He's not alone either. There are thousands, maybe even millions of others out there that are in the situation. So you see just how insignificant Zim is. You also may see just how insignificant you are too. There are other planets out there with much more to offer than what you puny earthlings have to offer us any-

Oh my… have I revealed myself to you?

Well, now that you know I'm here, I suppose I should introduce myself. Hi,-That is what you earthlings say right? - While I will not give out my name, for my own reasons, I will just say that I am the Supreme Being. I am Zim's boss, future ruler of the entire universe. I'm so much taller than him. I don't really see the point of telling you all about my plans. I mean, after all you'll all be dead by 2013 anyway! Ha-ha-ha-hah!-

That whole thing with the play really did happen. The balcony really did fall on Darry, but he doesn't realize that. He thinks that it was all a dream; he thinks that it was all in his head. Well it wasn't. He was crushed beneath the rubble of the theater and he was dying. I got him out of there and I sent him back to his house like nothing ever happened. Now he's just sitting there reading the comics like it's any other day. Unaware of the fact that his younger brother and two extraterrestrials are basically mocking him!

What a moron!

Although Darry doesn't know it; he is nothing but a puppet being controlled by his little brother. His little brother is nothing but a puppet to Zim and Zim is my puppet. Ha-ha-ha!

Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you. The human that Zim inhabited the body of… what was his name? Oh yeah! Ponyboy, that's his name! Yeah… uh, about Ponyboy… he's dead.

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

But none of the humans know this yet. Not Darry, not Sodapop, not anybody. Ponyboy doesn't even know. –wait. Are you human? Because if you just read that and you're human, I might have to kill you too…

…

**Ponyboy's –Uhm, Zim's... No… erm, Ponyboy's point of view?**

I slammed the door to my room, feeling angrier than I had felt in a long time.

Darry knew that I had been looking forward to this play for a long time… why would he ground me?

I walked over to my dresser and roughly jerked the cord of the lamp out of the wall socket. I picked up the lamp. The bulb was cold, because it hadn't been turned on.

As greasers, we only have two rules, and those two rules are: stick together and don't get caught. I don't understand why I'm being grounded, I didn't break the rules. I didn't get caught. My plan was foolproof! I had almost everything planed out, and any problems I had along the way were solved by Dallas. The government had no idea what hit em'! Hell, I even solved some of our problems. If it weren't for me all those social workers would still be checking up on us every month. If it weren't for me, Darry wouldn't know that the government was violating our rights as US citizens! Darry should be grateful to me!

I hauled off and threw the lamp against the wall.

Darry is a dumbass, I thought to myself as I walked over to my bed and sat down. I lay down and stared at the ceiling.

That little voice I always heard in the back of my head- my only other real friend besides Johnny- was telling me other ways to toy with Darry next time he tries to punish me.

"_Turn the world upside down while he's working on a roof at work. Make it so that every time he tries to eat, the food disappears. Trap him in a psychedelic shack full of giggling demons that look like Two-bit for all eternity. Make him go grey-headed!" The voice whispered. "Make him suffer for his arrogance."_

If there is anybody of this earth that knows anything, it's Zim. - That's what the voice calls itself, Zim. - Zim knows the score, and when Zim talks I listen to Zim. Other than Zim and the Supreme Being, there is no one else.

At the very thought of the Supreme Being I felt as if I should stand at attention. But I didn't. I just lay there, too worn out to move. It's funny because I haven't really done anything all day. I guess I'm emotionally tired, or whatever. It's Darry's fault.

"_He made you feel this way."_

That's right, it's Darry's fault. This could have all been avoided if he had just let me go to that damn play…

And I fell into a peaceful slumber wherein I dreamt up delightful new ways of mentally torturing Darry.

"_Lock him inside of a grandfather clock for twenty-four hours. Put a billion dollars in front of him, bind his arms and watch him struggle. A crazy, out of control cat and mouse game, a hallucinogenic, never-ending maze made entirely of you, me, and the other six things that will completely and utterly fuck him up in the head."_

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><p><em><strong>Wow... this is getting interestng...<strong>_

_**REVIEW FOR MORE!**_


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